Casting Runes
by Rose Blood Cat
Summary: Colonello was never meant to be an Arcobolaeno. He never Harmonized with Luce or Aria, never bonded with his fellow "Guardians". He wasn't supposed to've been there at all. But that didn't mean he didn't have a Sky of his own. Rune-themed one-shot, though I could be talked into adding more.
1. Pertho

_**CASTING RUNES**_

By RBCat

 _ **First Cast: Pertho**_

 _ **Earthly Meaning:**_ _Chance_ ; Gambling; _Secrets_ ; Windfall; _Synchronicity_ ; Birth

 _ **Spiritual Meaning:**_ _Fate_ ; the Feminine; _Uncertainty_

 _ **Reversed Meaning:**_ Don't take a chance, the outcome won't be good; _Embarrassing or Unpleasant revelations are about to come to light._

 _ **We cannot always know the results of our actions, which have an alchemy of their own.**_

.

.

.

Colonnello, contrary to popular belief, _was_ able to keep secrets from his superiors. There were things about him that not even Lal, his teacher (and long time crush), knew about him.

Some were simple things, like a few foods he liked that were never brought up (He had a special fondness for Jambalaya, ever since one particular mission brought him to Louisiana in the US), activities outside of his job (He actually had a fondness for tinkering with car engines, though he was no-where near Skull's skills. Even he had to admit the lackey was _good_ at his job), and other small things that rarely cropped up in his work area enough to make people notice.

Some secrets, however, where not so innocently missed. Or Small for that matter. But he still managed to keep them.

The biggest was that he _did_ , in fact, have a sky.

With his status as the Rain Arcobolaeno, everyone simply _assumed_ that he'd Harmonized with Luce. This was not true. As he had come in unofficially due to his worry for Lal's safety (Everything had felt _so wrong_ with those jobs, how could she have not noticed?), and had taken the curse _in her place_. He had never had the chance to bond with Luce, in fact he hadn't bonded with _any_ of them. He had been an _outsider_ who'd come running in when he wasn't supposed too. He didn't regret it, but that didn't change the facts. The others never brought that fact up, simply letting people believe what they wanted.

But he hadn't Harmonized with Aria, Luce's daughter, either. He had hung around for a while, making sure she was okay after her mother's passing, but he had never truly connected with her (The girl had lost her mother, had her Familia's problems dropped on her lap, and saddled with a curse that would drain away _her life_ all in one go. She needed at least one person to be there for her). Admittedly the others hadn't Harmonized with her either, simply coming by _just often enough_ to say they hadn't cut contact from her. But no more than that.

Colonnello's Sky was young (barely fifteen), and had been living with him in Mafia Land for nearly seven years. Many of the workers had assumed the teen was a relative, or a charge left in his care before becoming an Arcobolaeno. The were kind-of right about that.

That black-haired, green-eyed teen was his young, wonderful, _unaligned_ Sky. And he would gladly move mountains to keep him happy.

 _But sometimes,_ he thought to himself while staring at the veritable _flood_ of owls from his Sky's school friends, all of them probably demanding to know why he wasn't at his "Relatives" house. _Even_ _ **I**_ _have to wonder how I've managed to keep this a secret for so long._

.

.

.

AN: A random idea that popped into my head while reading a story that talked about how Colonnello had NOT actually been invited to join _"_ _I Prescelti Sette_ _"._ By the sounds of it, he wasn't even supposed to _be there_ during the actual placing of the curse. They all beat up on Skull for not belonging, but technically Colonnello was the one who shouldn't have been there. I wonder why no one's pointed this out before?

Secondly, when people try to make an HP crossover where Harry is the Sky for an Arcobolaeno, they always have Reborn or Skull or Viper be the ones to bond with Harry. But I couldn't help wondering, "What if it was someone else?" And then this appeared.

If I get enough comments or ideas, I might add more to this. But for now, this is it. If you like it or have suggestions for more, go ahead and tell me!


	2. Gebo

AN: Holy crap guys, you are all amazing! When I first posted this, I had no _idea_ would take off like this! It was just an interesting idea I put up for the heck of it. I thought two, maybe three people would like it or make a comment. I had no idea that between AO3 and, I would have opened the _floodgates_ for people to comment and follow this. With the huge response, I had to actually _sit down_ and _figure out_ what the heck I was going to do with this idea that I originally wrote as a one-shot. While I was at it, I decided to clarify some things.  
Firstly, Harry and Colonnello met _before_ Colonnello was cursed and before Harry was invited to Hogwarts.  
Secondly, Harry is actually _seven_ when they first meet and HE is male. I'm not sure why someone thought I was writing a Fem!Harry for this story, but I'm not. Sorry if that disappoints you. Any other notes I'm putting at the end of the chapter, so let's get to the story!

.

Second Cast: Gebo (Gift)

 _ **Earthly Meaning:**_ Success, Union, _Happiness, Obligation_

 _ **Spiritual Meaning:**_ Karma, _Inner Equilibrium_

 _ **Reverse Meaning:**_ There is no reverse meaning for Gebo/p

 _ **The wise recipient gives** **back** ** _an_ d shares the good fortune that has been bestowed.**_

.

.

Colonnello had always thought that is was strange how a single letter (just a couple sheets of paper!) could have led him to the greatest gift of his life. Though, he supposed the fact that it had come bearing bad news had a factor in the oddness of it.

His Great Aunt Ivana Dursley-Satino had, apparently, passed away and he'd been invited the reading of her Will. He honestly couldn't remember the woman in question, but he _vaguely_ remembered his Grandfather claiming that the Dursley side of the family was full of people who were "Touched in the Head", and that she was the only "sane" one of the bunch. Personally, Colonnello felt that his Grandfather had been throwing stones from a glass-house. Not that he'd ever said that out loud.

He'd written back, telling them he'd be there, but he hadn't gone because he'd expected anything grand. He'd gone because Great Aunt Ivana was family, and family was always there for each other (that was one of the earliest things he'd learned from his father). He'd also had to tell his CO where he was going and why. With the strange disappearances that had happened about seven years prior, CONSUBIN had put in a procedure for anyone heading to England, Ireland, or Scotland that _had_ to be filled out. They had to let people know before they went out, so they could have back up if anything happened to them. Some documents stating which of their Cos would have the easiest time finding them, they had to give the _exact locations_ of where they were headed and where they would be staying, and a plethora of other safety measures and paperwork that had driven Colonnello up the wall.

He was still torn on whether or not he regretted the decision.

His worry for Lal being part of that _"I Prescelti Sette"_ , weighing on the back of his mind during his plane ride to England had made it difficult for him to settle down. He'd had to apologize to the people sitting on either side of him, repeatedly, throughout the trip (Damn his luck for landing him with a middle seat on the plane). At least they were sympathetic about him being worried for a friend. Though that hadn't stopped one of them from not-so-subtly offering him some sleeping pills to "make the plane ride shorter". And the offer had been politely _declined_. He'd take being distracted and nervous over being _incapacitated_ while in unfamiliar territory, _thank you very much._

Being paranoid around strangers was par-the-course when you were raised in the Mafia, but the last thing he needed was someone pulling one over him.

He technically shouldn't have known about Lal's side jobs, but he'd learned of it thanks to a couple of Lal's gossiping bunkmates (really, those girl's needed to do a better job of keeping their mouths shut. It didn't matter that they were on the COMSUBIN base, they shouldn't have been blabbing about someone's private missions in a place where they could be overheard!). But he didn't dare try to follow her. Not yet anyway. After all, Lal was a big girl and could take care of herself. She didn't need him dogging her footsteps, even if he only wanted to help her.

The start of his trip had gone fairly well, with the only real issue being snagging his luggage in a timely manner. That _really_ should have clued him in that something was going to happen. Things only went well when life was getting ready to pitch a curve ball at him.

pHis hotel had been in London, within cab distance from the Law Firm where the will would be read, and it had a "Soldier's Discount", saving him money for his stay. After making a couple calls (telling the lawyer that he'd arrived and double checking the time of the reading and telling his CO that he'd arrived alright and nothing had happened) he'd tucked in for the night so he'd be up in time for the reading.

.

.

He'd arrived early the next morning, dressed in his ceremonial uniform (because that was the closest he got to formal wear), and found himself having to mingle with the relatives he'd never met while waiting for things to get started. He'd found that, while the simpering over his Great Aunt was annoying, his relatives were at least tolerable. Though he nearly _cringed_ over how grotesquely _over-weight_ they all were. (The base's dietitian would've had _kittens_ over those people.) He quietly gritted his teeth as his distant aunt (cousin? He didn't know or care) started droning on about her brother's well-off job working at a drill company, and her precious bulldogs, and "how he must be such a _respectable young man_ to be in the military", and- ugh, he almost wished he had been back in boot camp.

He nearly whooped in relief when the Lawyer's finally came in.

From there, things were surprisingly quick and efficiently dealt with. Various members being called out and told what had been left to them, signing for it, then returning to their seats. Apparently his Great Aunt had a house that wasn't too far from the base he was stationed at, and had left it to him. He'd planned to take a look through the place before doing anything with it. For all he had known, he might have ended up selling it and just staying on base. And if he decided to keep it, it looked to be fully paid off and the only things he'd have to keep up on was taxes. He'd actually been pretty pleased about that. (he'd basically gotten an entire _house_ for free! How cool was that?)

When it was finally over, Colonnello was highly tempted to bolt for the door when a horse-faced woman approached him radiating that aura of someone who felt they were above everyone else but were still ready to schmooze up to someone if they thought it would benefit them. The kind of person who made his skin crawl in disgust.

The woman, the wife of a Mr. Vernon Dursley, invited him to a family picnic at their home on Privet Drive. Not wanting to insult his relatives (and not being one to turn down _free food_ ), Colonnello forced a friendly smile onto his face accepted.

.

.

Historically, Colonnello knew Suburbs in Britain had a boom in creation after World War 2, especially military funded ones. Previously, the only places they were found was in the immediate vicinity of the bases and housed the families of the soldiers. But with the widespread destruction from various bombings, air raids, and battles throughout the small country, the standard "Cookie-Cutter" suburb became the easiest and most reliable way for people to regain homes and recover their lives. Especially to those farmers who had lost _everything_ to the war. They'd become a staple for the middle class due to their affordability and the ease by which more could be built or added as necessary and, as such, were actually fairly common throughout the country.

That _did not_ , however, mean he liked visiting them. There was a fine line between the military efficiency he was used to from the base, and the kind of _obsessive attempts_ to cling to normalcy and perfection he had seen on Privet Drive. It had been downright _eerie_ to the soldier.

Number Four (his relative's house) had a military level of cleanliness that seemed _horribly out of place_ for a civilian's home, so much so that his Mafia-honed instincts were hissing that there was something distinctly _wrong_ with the place. Instead of bolting, yanking out a gun and interrogating his hosts, or something else equally rash and potentially court-martial worthy, he grit his teeth and continued in with fake casualness.

The Dursleys of the household were that almost _painfully_ fake kind of normal that rubbed him the wrong way, and left him pulling on his own Tranquility in order to not act out. Factor in the stuffy neighborhood, overly polite speech to the rest of the family, and the general feeling of fake pleasantness, and they had the perfect recipe for convincing the soldier to _never come back_.

Vernon Dursley reminded Colonnello of a walrus that could walk upright, with his overly bushy mustache, heavy frame, and thick neck. Turned out he was the one who worked at the drill company, but despite his attitude, he wasn't really that high on the food chain. The man's air of superiority was doing an amazing job of getting on his nerves, like he thought they should all feel privileged just to be in his presence. Personally, Colonnello could think of plenty of companies where people could get better drills for less money than Grunnings. They were even legal companies!

His wife, Petunia was a sharp contrast with her unbelievably skinny body (there was no way that was healthy), her horse-like face, long neck, and beady eyes. Everything about her screamed "busybody house-wife". The kind who seemed to live to talk smack about their neighbors and gossip about everyone's private lives. He could handle someone who liked to share gossip, but that was if they were Mafia women. At least _they_ tried to fact-check their gossip and hold on to the grain of truth about their rumors.

Their kid, Dudley, was short and just as fat as his dad, with a head of dish-water blonde hair that looked more like a wig on him. He looked like a piglet, and he honestly couldn't wrap his head how a walrus and horse managed to reproduce in the first place. That was something he _really_ didn't want to think about. Barely ten minutes into the "party" and Colonnello could tell he was spoiled little brat with zero discipline. The weight he could have excused based on genetics, but the behavior issues were obviously on his parents. It was obvious the kid had never been punished at any point of his life, a perfect brat as far as he could tell. Boy were things gonna be rough when that kid was finally old enough to leave his parent's overly-cushy fold of life.

Things had been going, well... He wouldn't say great, but nothing was really going wrong either. Then the brat had acted up.

The kid knocked over one of the fancy glass bowls, which shattered and cut up one of the old ladies. It was a marker of bad parenting that they went straight to fussing over their kid instead of checking on the person _bleeding right in front of them._ Colonello jumped on the chance to escape them all for a moment, even if it meant going into that creepy house.

"I'll get some towels and bandages! Broom cupboard under the stairs, right?" He didn't wait for an answer before heading inside. He would later say he was glad he hadn't. He b-lined for the locked cupboard, opening it without a second thought. And found a pair of wide green eyes staring up at him, and his rain flames screaming out at the baby-sky he'd found without even looking for one.

If asked, Colonello could never really say what had really happened after that moment.

He knew he'd gone ballistic about finding a _kid_ shoved in a cupboard, got in a loud argument with Petunia about her nephew (the kid), got a few other of relatives to agree with him, and made a big enough stink that neighbors were peeking over the fences to figure out what was going on. By the end of it, he wasn't allowed to visit them anymore (not that he'd want too), and he was taking the kid with him.

It'd taken about a week for him to get clearance to take the kid to Italy (and he would be making use of his Great Aunts house) and negotiate the custody battles from there (and he _would_ be using his own contacts, there were a couple people who owed him No-Question favors). It wasn't until he had the Harry in his lap on the plane that it hit him what had happened during that week.

He had found his Sky. He'd found the Home all flame users spent their lives hoping to find.

And later, he realized _he'd_ become the Home for a little kid who'd never had a place to belong, and promises to himself to give the Baby-Sky the home he _deserved._

AN: Figuring this one out was a lot harder than you'd think. The last little chunk had taken forever. Coming up with a reason for Colonnello to open the cupboard took forever.  
10/14/17Edit: So, got some comments about editing and went back to the chapter to fix them. Sorry guys, I was putting the html tags into the original file so I could copy-paste it into AO3 and forgot to take them out before posting to FF. My mistake entirely here's hoping it doesn't happen again!


	3. Author's Note

Hey everybody!

I know some of you are probably disappointed that this isn't actually a new chapter, but that's because... I have no idea how to write another one.

I have plenty of _ideas,_ but I just can't seem to actually get them _done._ Then I thought, why don't I try asking for help? But no one I knew irl was interesting KHR, and didn't really have anything to offer for ideas.

So I've decided to ask YOU for some help.

I'm gonna post a list of all the runes and quick ideas I've managed to come up with, and I want to hear from you how _you_ think they should go. Or even suggestions for other things that could be written, Runes I haven't used yet, or even stories to recycle runes I've already done. And if you want to try writing from the list, go right ahead!

Without further ado (or adon't!) the prompts thus far!

.

.

.

 **~Pertho (Secret):** Colonnello has kept the existence of his sky a secret for years, but not even he's sure how he managed it.  
 _We cannot always know the results of our actions, which have an alchemy of their own._

 **~Gebo (Gift):** Colonnello finally finds a sky of his own, free from the expectations of the Mafia and the burdens of a Family. He is only too happy to give Harry the home and love he deserves.  
 _The wise recipient gives back and shares the good fortune that has been bestowed._

 **~Uruz (Wild Ox):** Harry gets his Hogwarts letter and Colonnello forces himself to step back and give Harry room to spread his wings. After all, the seal of the Sky flame was a crown with wings, why would they have them if they weren't meant to fly?  
 _Only by facing your greatest weakness can your real strength be revealed._

 **~Haglaz (Hail)** : Colonnelo receives the Arcobaleno curse in Lal's place, but all he can focus on is the fear that he might not be able to protect Harry anymore. He finds an almost bone-deep relief when he learns about Mafia Land.  
 _Hail, once fallen, turns to water. Even the hardest times yield some good._

 **~Thurisaz (Thorn):** Harry faces Quirrelmort, and cries as he realizes he might never see Colonnello again. That thought is somehow more terrifying than the thought of his own death.  
 _A warning heeded is a shield on your arm; unheeded, it is a sword in your enemy's hand._

 **~Ansuz (Wisdom):** Harry talks to Colonnello about his first kill, and is assured that it doesn't change how precious he is to the Rain. Colonnello contemplates killing Dumbledore for not telling him of the incident.  
 _Listen like the wolf, watch like the raven, and you will find wisdom._

 **~Kenaz (Torch):** The Arcobaleno finally realize Colonnello has been hiding something from them. He has a Sky-Bond, but Aria doesn't have a Rain.  
 _The brightest beacon is lit with just a spark._

 **~Wunjo (Joy):** Colonnello and the Mafia Land staff throw Harry a surprise Birthday Party for his 8th Birthday. Harry ends up crying at his party, but they're happy tears.  
 _Our joys are as brief as the days of summer, but another summer always comes._

 **~Teiwaz (Authority):** Colonnello has come to genuinely hate the phrase "For the Greater Good". He's learned the hard way that it's just a nicer way of saying the "Lesser Evil".  
 _It takes as much courage to stand up for what is right as it does to go into battle._

 **~Mannaz (Man):** The Arcobaleno discover Harry, and learn that Colonnello is willing to fight tooth-and-nail to let Harry stay free. He already does it to keep Dumbledore from trying to put his Sky in a gilded cage, it's nothing new to him. And he's learned plenty of tricks to fight with.  
 _Be aware of the fellowship that connects us, rather than the differences that divide us._

 **~Othila (Home):** Sometimes, the best part of Colonnello's day, is coming home to his baby Sky.  
 _All journeys end with a homecoming._

 **~Naudhiz (Need):** At the end of each school year, Harry and Colonnello hold each other close and wrap the other in their Flames and make plans to spend time with just each other. Both trying to make up for their year of self-denial.  
 _Simplicity is better than self-denial._

 **~Isa (Ice):** Dumbledore is a very difficult person, Colonnello finds. Their arguments over Harry's happiness and well-being always seem to end in a stalemate.  
 _The times when we rest in stillness can be times of great progress._

 **~Eihwaz (Yew):** With Extremist Wizards pressuring him on one side, and forceful Arcobalaeno on the other, Colonnello doesn't know whether to bend or stand firm. And if he bends, which way should he go?  
 _The yew branch knows when to bend and when to resist bending._

 **~Algiz (Protection):** Colonnello knows nothing about Wizards, but that won't stop him from protecting his sky.  
 _Courage is not the lack of fear. It is the will to keep going even when you are afraid._

 **~Dagaz (Day):** When Harry is told about 3rd-year electives, he goes to the Library to look at the kind of jobs available to Wizards. Upon stumbling over a book about Curse Breaking, Harry finds the goal he will throw his life into achieving.  
 _There is no end of days. And each new day is as broad and limitless as the sky at dawn._

 **~Wyrd (Fate):** Colonnello trusts Checkerface as far as a civilian can throw tank. He knows, deep down, that something isn't right. But he's willing to go, his Sky at his side, and face the unknown. Come what may.  
 _We cannot know all there is to know. The greatest secrets are revealed in their own time._


End file.
